INTELLIGENT BRANDS // Green Technology
Hytera Communication partners with Zimbabwe Parks to improve safety of rangers and reduce poaching
Hytera Communications , has partnered with Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Authority , ZimParks to improve the safety of rangers working across the parks and reduce wildlife poaching activities . Hytera has equipped the rangers with advanced Digital Mobile Radios , DMR and dispatching software .
As a government agency for wildlife conservation , ZimParks manages approximately five million hectares of land . From 2020 to 2021 , widespread poaching was seen in the parks as a result of a pandemic-impaired local economy and an absence of tourists in the parks . Wildlifehuman conflicts were on the increase . In 2020 , there were more than 50 injuries and 60 deaths due to growing wildlife-human conflicts , according to ZimParks ’ records on its website .
To better equip its staff , especially its boots on the ground , the rangers , with the essential tools they need to cope with the situation , ZimParks has teamed up with Hytera to build a communication and dispatch system that allows the staff to be mobilised effectively and efficiently across the sprawling parks . The cooperation has also brought Hytera digital two-way radios to the rangers , granting them access to park-wide radio communication .
“ We have rangers who are actually doing their jobs very effectively on the ground . They are our boots on the ground . But they are facing a lot of challenges as they do their work . You would find , the poachers want to kill them . The same animals they are protecting also want to kill and injure them . So the best way out , for us to actually deal with the first line of defence effectively , is to come up with effective communication , which is radio communication ,” said Dr Fulton Mangwanya , Director General of ZimParks .
“ Given that GSM is not covering all the parks in most cases . So , with radio communication , which is very effective , our problems are solved in terms of protecting wildlife or law enforcement issues .”
“ The remoteness of the area and absence of present-day cell phone signal coverage coupled with the nature of the work , with high chances of encountering armed and dangerous wildlife criminals as well as dangerous animals , reptiles , and insects , make our work all the more challenging .
However , my training as well as reliable Hytera radio communication coverage in the area give me the confidence to engage the poachers , and even the excessive heat ,” said Ms Theressa Makunike , one of ZimParks ’ rangers .
Zimbabwe recorded a decline in wildlife poaching in 2022 , with a total of 36 key wildlife animals being poached in 2022 , down from 42 in 2021 . Hytera Communications is a global provider of professional communications technologies and solutions . p
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